Biogen is selling its stake in a pharmaceutical joint venture with the South Korean conglomerate Samsung for $2.3 billion, the company said Thursday, bolstering the drugmaker’s balance sheet.
Under the agreement, Samsung Biologics is acquiring Biogen’s ownership in Samsung Bioepis, which manufactures off-patent versions of biologic medicines called biosimilars. Biogen will get $1 billion in cash once the deal closes, followed by $1.25 billion paid out over two years. The joint venture, founded in 2012, has six approved biosimilars and five more in development.
Biogen has a roughly 50% stake in the venture, and it collects royalties on biosimilar versions of the blockbuster treatments Enbrel, Humira, Remicade, and Lucentis. The business accounts for a small fraction of Biogen’s overall revenue, amounting to less than $800 million in 2020 and remaining mostly flat in 2021.
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